The Plague: The Black Death In Europe

What was the most questionable sickness of 1347? The Black Death was brought to Europe in October 1347 by ship. Robert Steven Gottfried stated, “Plague did not honor social class, and mortality among the nobility approximated that of the general population”. The black death affected Europe as a whole, especially how the medical side responded, and how the government responded.

The black death had affected Europe by killing ⅓ of its people within 4 years. The black death also known as the black plague had given people black boils that had oozed blood and puss. It also withheld them from keeping food down as they became overcome with fever and delirious pain. The plague had not only affected humans, it also affected cows, sheep, goats, pigs, and chickens (“Black Death”).

The living conditions in Europe of the time were very harsh. With so many people dying at the time survivors were moving into large

The plague had taken a toll onto the population as it continued to fall until slowing down by 1352. As Molly Edmonds states, “ the workforce had been destroyed -- farms were abandoned and buildings crumbled”. This helps to prove that there was a major loss of population by telling of how there wasn’t enough people to even keep the building stable.

The medical response to the plague was very little due to them not knowing much about the epidemic at the time. They had observed that people who were around the sick had often became sick also (Calliope). “Bird of the black death, in wingless waxed coat sweeping thousands to the grave” by Peter Galan Massey helped to describe the doctors of the time. Doctors often wore bird like masks with flowers at the end to help mask the smell of people dying around them. It was also to help cut down on the spread of infections and they became known as beak doctors